In Greek mythology, the
Trojan WarTrojan War was waged against the city of Troy
by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of
TroyTroy took Helen from her
husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important
events in
Greek mythologyGreek mythology and has been narrated through many works of
Greek literature, most notably Homer's Iliad. The
IliadIliad relates four
days in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey
describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other
parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have
survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material
for
Greek tragedyGreek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman
poets including
VirgilVirgil and Ovid.
The war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Hera, Athena,
and Aphrodite, after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave
them a golden apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked
"for the fairest".
ZeusZeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that
Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should receive the apple. In exchange,
AphroditeAphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women and wife of
Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon,
king of
MycenaeMycenae and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus, led an
expedition of Achaean troops to
TroyTroy and besieged the city for ten
years because of Paris' insult. After the deaths of many heroes,
including the Achaeans
AchillesAchilles and Ajax, and the Trojans
HectorHector and
Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse. The Achaeans
slaughtered the Trojans (except for some of the women and children
whom they kept or sold as slaves) and desecrated the temples, thus
earning the gods' wrath. Few of the Achaeans returned safely to their
homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The Romans later
traced their origin to Aeneas, Aphrodite's son and one of the Trojans,
who was said to have led the surviving Trojans to modern-day Italy.
The ancient
GreeksGreeks believed that
TroyTroy was located near the Dardanelles
and that the
Trojan WarTrojan War was a historical event of the 13th or 12th
century BC, but by the mid-19th century, both the war and the city
were widely seen as mythological. In 1868, however, the German
archaeologist
Heinrich SchliemannHeinrich Schliemann met Frank Calvert, who convinced
Schliemann that
TroyTroy was a real city at what is now
HissarlikHissarlik in
Turkey.[1] On the basis of excavations conducted by Schliemann and
others, this claim is now accepted by most scholars.[2][3]
Whether there is any historical reality behind the
Trojan WarTrojan War remains
an open question. Many scholars believe that there is a historical
core to the tale, though this may simply mean that the Homeric stories
are a fusion of various tales of sieges and expeditions by Mycenaean
GreeksGreeks during the Bronze Age. Those who believe that the stories of
the
Trojan WarTrojan War are derived from a specific historical conflict usually
date it to the 12th or 11th centuries BC, often preferring the dates
given by Eratosthenes, 1194–1184 BC, which roughly corresponds with
archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of
TroyTroy VIIa.[4]

The events of the
Trojan WarTrojan War are found in many works of Greek
literature and depicted in numerous works of Greek art. There is no
single, authoritative text which tells the entire events of the war.
Instead, the story is assembled from a variety of sources, some of
which report contradictory versions of the events. The most important
literary sources are the two epic poems traditionally credited to
Homer, the
IliadIliad and the Odyssey, composed sometime between the 9th
and 6th centuries BC.[5] Each poem narrates only a part of the war.
The
IliadIliad covers a short period in the last year of the siege of Troy,
while the
OdysseyOdyssey concerns Odysseus's return to his home island of
Ithaca, following the sack of
TroyTroy and contains several flashbacks to
particular episodes in the war.
Other parts of the
Trojan WarTrojan War were told in the poems of the Epic
Cycle, also known as the Cyclic Epics: the Cypria, Aethiopis, Little
Iliad, Iliou Persis, Nostoi, and Telegony. Though these poems survive
only in fragments, their content is known from a summary included in
Proclus' Chrestomathy.[6] The authorship of the Cyclic Epics is
uncertain. It is generally thought that the poems were written down in
the 7th and 6th century BC, after the composition of the Homeric
poems, though it is widely believed that they were based on earlier
traditions.[7] Both the Homeric epics and the
Epic CycleEpic Cycle take origin
from oral tradition. Even after the composition of the Iliad, Odyssey,
and the Cyclic Epics, the myths of the
Trojan WarTrojan War were passed on
orally, in many genres of poetry and through non-poetic storytelling.
Events and details of the story that are only found in later authors
may have been passed on through oral tradition and could be as old as
the Homeric poems. Visual art, such as vase-painting, was another
medium in which myths of the
Trojan WarTrojan War circulated.[8]
In later ages playwrights, historians, and other intellectuals would
create works inspired by the Trojan War. The three great tragedians of
Athens, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, wrote many dramas that
portray episodes from the Trojan War. Among Roman writers the most
important is the 1st century BC poet Virgil. In Book 2 of the Aeneid,
AeneasAeneas narrates the sack of Troy; this section of the poem is thought
to rely on material from the Cyclic Epic Iliou Persis.[citation
needed]
Legend
The following summary of the
Trojan WarTrojan War follows the order of events as
given in Proclus' summary, along with the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid,
supplemented with details drawn from other authors.
Origins of the war
Plan of Zeus
According to Greek mythology,
ZeusZeus had become king of the gods by
overthrowing his father Cronus;
CronusCronus in turn had overthrown his
father Uranus.
ZeusZeus was not faithful to his wife and sister Hera, and
had many relationships from which many children were born. Since Zeus
believed that there were too many people populating the earth, he
envisioned Momus[9] or Themis,[10] who was to use the
Trojan WarTrojan War as a
means to depopulate the Earth, especially of his demigod
descendants.[11]
These can be supported by Hesiod's account:

Now all the gods were divided through strife; for at that very time
ZeusZeus who thunders on high was meditating marvelous deeds, even to
mingle storm and tempest over the boundless earth, and already he was
hastening to make an utter end of the race of mortal men, declaring
that he would destroy the lives of the demi-gods, that the children of
the gods should not mate with wretched mortals, seeing their fate with
their own eyes; but that the blessed gods henceforth even as aforetime
should have their living and their habitations apart from men. But on
those who were born of immortals and of mankind verily
ZeusZeus laid toil
and sorrow upon sorrow.[12]

Judgement of Paris

The Judgment of Paris (1904) by Enrique Simonet

Main article: Judgement of Paris
ZeusZeus came to learn from either Themis[13] or Prometheus, after
HeraclesHeracles had released him from Caucasus,[14] that, like his father
Cronus, he would be overthrown by one of his sons. Another prophecy
stated that a son of the sea-nymph Thetis, with whom
ZeusZeus fell in love
after gazing upon her in the oceans off the Greek coast, would become
greater than his father.[15] Possibly for one or both of these
reasons,[16]
ThetisThetis was betrothed to an elderly human king,
PeleusPeleus son
of Aeacus, either upon Zeus' orders,[17] or because she wished to
please Hera, who had raised her.[18]
All of the gods were invited to
PeleusPeleus and Thetis' wedding and brought
many gifts,[19] except Eris (the goddess of discord), who was stopped
at the door by Hermes, on Zeus' order.[20] Insulted, she threw from
the door a gift of her own:[21] a golden apple (το μήλον της
έριδος) on which was inscribed the word καλλίστῃ
Kallistēi ("To the fairest").[22] The apple was claimed by Hera,
Athena, and Aphrodite. They quarreled bitterly over it, and none of
the other gods would venture an opinion favoring one, for fear of
earning the enmity of the other two. Eventually,
ZeusZeus ordered Hermes
to lead the three goddesses to Paris, a prince of Troy, who, unaware
of his ancestry, was being raised as a shepherd in Mount Ida,[23]
because of a prophecy that he would be the downfall of Troy.[24] After
bathing in the spring of Ida, the goddesses appeared to him naked,
either for the sake of winning or at Paris' request. Paris was unable
to decide between them, so the goddesses resorted to bribes. Athena
offered Paris wisdom, skill in battle, and the abilities of the
greatest warriors;
HeraHera offered him political power and control of all
of Asia; and
AphroditeAphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful
woman in the world, Helen of Sparta. Paris awarded the apple to
Aphrodite, and, after several adventures, returned to Troy, where he
was recognized by his royal family.

PeleusPeleus and
ThetisThetis bore a son, whom they named Achilles. It was
foretold that he would either die of old age after an uneventful life,
or die young in a battlefield and gain immortality through poetry.[25]
Furthermore, when
AchillesAchilles was nine years old,
CalchasCalchas had prophesied
that
TroyTroy could not again fall without his help.[26] A number of
sources credit
ThetisThetis with attempting to make
AchillesAchilles immortal when
he was an infant. Some of these state that she held him over fire
every night to burn away his mortal parts and rubbed him with ambrosia
during the day, but
PeleusPeleus discovered her actions and stopped her.[27]
According to some versions of this story,
ThetisThetis had already killed
several sons in this manner, and Peleus' action therefore saved his
son's life.[28] Other sources state that
ThetisThetis bathed
AchillesAchilles in the
Styx, the river that runs to the underworld, making him invulnerable
wherever he was touched by the water.[29] Because she had held him by
the heel, it was not immersed during the bathing and thus the heel
remained mortal and vulnerable to injury (hence the expression
"
AchillesAchilles heel" for an isolated weakness). He grew up to be the
greatest of all mortal warriors. After Calchas' prophesy,
ThetisThetis hid
AchillesAchilles in
SkyrosSkyros at the court of King Lycomedes, where he was
disguised as a girl.[30] At a crucial point in the war, she assists
her son by providing weapons divinely forged by
HephaestusHephaestus (see
below).
Elopement of Paris and Helen

The Abduction of Helen (1530–39) by Francesco Primaticcio, with
AphroditeAphrodite directing

The most beautiful woman in the world was Helen, one of the daughters
of Tyndareus, King of Sparta. Her mother was Leda, who had been either
raped or seduced by
ZeusZeus in the form of a swan.[31] Accounts differ
over which of Leda's four children, two pairs of twins, were fathered
by
ZeusZeus and which by Tyndareus. However, Helen is usually credited as
Zeus' daughter,[32] and sometimes Nemesis is credited as her
mother.[33] Helen had scores of suitors, and her father was unwilling
to choose one for fear the others would retaliate violently.
Finally, one of the suitors,
OdysseusOdysseus of Ithaca, proposed a plan to
solve the dilemma. In exchange for Tyndareus' support of his own suit
towards Penelope,[34] he suggested that
TyndareusTyndareus require all of
Helen's suitors to promise that they would defend the marriage of
Helen, regardless of whom he chose. The suitors duly swore the
required oath on the severed pieces of a horse, although not without a
certain amount of grumbling.[35]
TyndareusTyndareus chose Menelaus.
MenelausMenelaus was a political choice on her
father's part. He had wealth and power. He had humbly not petitioned
for her himself, but instead sent his brother
AgamemnonAgamemnon on his behalf.
He had promised
AphroditeAphrodite a hecatomb, a sacrifice of 100 oxen, if he
won Helen, but forgot about it and earned her wrath.[36] Menelaus
inherited Tyndareus' throne of
SpartaSparta with Helen as his queen when her
brothers, Castor and Pollux, became gods,[37] and when Agamemnon
married Helen's sister
ClytemnestraClytemnestra and took back the throne of
Mycenae.[38]
Paris, under the guise of a supposed diplomatic mission, went to
SpartaSparta to get Helen and bring her back to Troy. Before Helen could
look up to see him enter the palace, she was shot with an arrow from
Eros, otherwise known as Cupid, and fell in love with Paris when she
saw him, as promised by Aphrodite.
MenelausMenelaus had left for Crete[39] to
bury his uncle, Crateus.[40]
According to one account, Hera, still jealous over the judgement of
Paris, sent a storm.[39] The storm caused the lovers to land in Egypt,
where the gods replaced Helen with a likeness of her made of clouds,
Nephele.[41] The myth of Helen being switched is attributed to the 6th
century BC Sicilian poet Stesichorus. For
HomerHomer the true Helen was in
Troy. The ship then landed in
SidonSidon before reaching Troy. Paris,
fearful of getting caught, spent some time there and then sailed to
Troy.[42]

Map of Homeric Greece

Paris' abduction of Helen had several precedents. Io was taken from
Mycenae, Europa was taken from Phoenicia,
JasonJason took
MedeaMedea from
Colchis,[43] and the Trojan princess
HesioneHesione had been taken by
Heracles, who gave her to
TelamonTelamon of Salamis.[44] According to
Herodotus, Paris was emboldened by these examples to steal himself a
wife from Greece, and expected no retribution, since there had been
none in the other cases.[45]
Gathering of Achaean forces and the first expedition
According to Homer,
MenelausMenelaus and his ally, Odysseus, traveled to Troy,
where they unsuccessfully sought to recover Helen by diplomatic
means.[46]
MenelausMenelaus then asked
AgamemnonAgamemnon to uphold his oath, which, as one of
Helen's suitors, was to defend her marriage regardless of which suitor
had been chosen.
AgamemnonAgamemnon agreed and sent emissaries to all the
Achaean kings and princes to call them to observe their oaths and
retrieve Helen.[47]
OdysseusOdysseus and Achilles

A scene from the
IliadIliad where
OdysseusOdysseus (Ulysses) discovers Achilles
dressed as a woman and hiding among the princesses at the royal court
of Skyros. A late Roman mosaic from La Olmeda, Spain, 4th–5th
centuries AD

Since Menelaus's wedding,
OdysseusOdysseus had married
PenelopePenelope and fathered a
son, Telemachus. In order to avoid the war, he feigned madness and
sowed his fields with salt. Palamedes outwitted him by placing his
infant son in front of the plough's path, and
OdysseusOdysseus turned aside,
unwilling to kill his son, so revealing his sanity and forcing him to
join the war.[39][48]
According to Homer, however,
OdysseusOdysseus supported the military adventure
from the beginning, and traveled the region with Pylos' king, Nestor,
to recruit forces.[49]
At Skyros,
AchillesAchilles had an affair with the king's daughter Deidamia,
resulting in a child, Neoptolemus.[50] Odysseus, Telamonian Ajax, and
Achilles' tutor Phoenix went to retrieve Achilles. Achilles' mother
disguised him as a woman so that he would not have to go to war, but,
according to one story, they blew a horn, and
AchillesAchilles revealed
himself by seizing a spear to fight intruders, rather than
fleeing.[26] According to another story, they disguised themselves as
merchants bearing trinkets and weaponry, and
AchillesAchilles was marked out
from the other women for admiring weaponry instead of clothes and
jewelry.[51]
Pausanias said that, according to Homer,
AchillesAchilles did not hide in
Skyros, but rather conquered the island, as part of the Trojan
War.[52]

First gathering at Aulis
The Achaean forces first gathered at Aulis. All the suitors sent their
forces except King
CinyrasCinyras of Cyprus. Though he sent breastplates to
AgamemnonAgamemnon and promised to send 50 ships, he sent only one real ship,
led by the son of Mygdalion, and 49 ships made of clay.[53] Idomeneus
was willing to lead the Cretan contingent in Mycenae's war against
Troy, but only as a co-commander, which he was granted.[54] The last
commander to arrive was Achilles, who was then 15 years old.
Following a sacrifice to Apollo, a snake slithered from the altar to a
sparrow's nest in a plane tree nearby. It ate the mother and her nine
babies, then was turned to stone.
CalchasCalchas interpreted this as a sign
that
TroyTroy would fall in the tenth year of the war.[55]
Telephus
When the Achaeans left for the war, they did not know the way, and
accidentally landed in Mysia, ruled by King Telephus, son of Heracles,
who had led a contingent of Arcadians to settle there.[56] In the
battle,
AchillesAchilles wounded Telephus,[57] who had killed Thersander.[58]
Because the wound would not heal,
TelephusTelephus asked an oracle, "What will
happen to the wound?". The oracle responded, "he that wounded shall
heal". The Achaean fleet then set sail and was scattered by a storm.
AchillesAchilles landed in
ScyrosScyros and married Deidamia. A new gathering was
set again in Aulis.[39]
TelephusTelephus went to Aulis, and either pretended to be a beggar, asking
AgamemnonAgamemnon to help heal his wound,[59] or kidnapped
OrestesOrestes and held
him for ransom, demanding the wound be healed.[60]
AchillesAchilles refused,
claiming to have no medical knowledge.
OdysseusOdysseus reasoned that the
spear that had inflicted the wound must be able to heal it. Pieces of
the spear were scraped off onto the wound, and
TelephusTelephus was
healed.[61]
TelephusTelephus then showed the Achaeans the route to Troy.[59]
Some scholars have regarded the expedition against
TelephusTelephus and its
resolution as a derivative reworking of elements from the main story
of the Trojan War, but it has also been seen as fitting the
story-pattern of the "preliminary adventure" that anticipates events
and themes from the main narrative, and therefore as likely to be
"early and integral".[62]
Second gathering

Eight years after the storm had scattered them,[63] the fleet of more
than a thousand ships was gathered again. But when they had all
reached Aulis, the winds ceased. The prophet
CalchasCalchas stated that the
goddess
ArtemisArtemis was punishing
AgamemnonAgamemnon for killing either a sacred
deer or a deer in a sacred grove, and boasting that he was a better
hunter than she.[39] The only way to appease Artemis, he said, was to
sacrifice Iphigenia, who was either the daughter of
AgamemnonAgamemnon and
Clytemnestra,[64] or of Helen and
TheseusTheseus entrusted to Clytemnestra
when Helen married Menelaus.[65]
AgamemnonAgamemnon refused, and the other
commanders threatened to make Palamedes commander of the
expedition.[66] According to some versions,
AgamemnonAgamemnon relented and
performed the sacrifice, but others claim that he sacrificed a deer in
her place, or that at the last moment,
ArtemisArtemis took pity on the girl,
and took her to be a maiden in one of her temples, substituting a
lamb.[39]
HesiodHesiod says that
IphigeniaIphigenia became the goddess Hecate.[67]
The Achaean forces are described in detail in the Catalogue of Ships,
in the second book of the Iliad. They consisted of 28 contingents from
mainland Greece, the Peloponnese, the
DodecaneseDodecanese islands, Crete, and
Ithaca, comprising 1186 pentekonters, ships with 50 rowers. Thucydides
says[68] that according to tradition there were about 1200 ships, and
that the Boeotian ships had 120 men, while Philoctetes' ships only had
the fifty rowers, these probably being maximum and minimum. These
numbers would mean a total force of 70,000 to 130,000 men. Another
catalogue of ships is given by the Bibliotheca that differs somewhat
but agrees in numbers. Some scholars have claimed that Homer's
catalogue is an original
Bronze AgeBronze Age document, possibly the Achaean
commander's order of operations.[69][70][71] Others believe it was a
fabrication of Homer.
The second book of the
IliadIliad also lists the Trojan allies, consisting
of the Trojans themselves, led by Hector, and various allies listed as
Dardanians led by Aeneas, Zeleians, Adrasteians, Percotians,
Pelasgians, Thracians,
CiconianCiconian spearmen, Paionian archers, Halizones,
Mysians, Phrygians, Maeonians, Miletians, Lycians led by
SarpedonSarpedon and
Carians. Nothing is said of the Trojan language; the
CariansCarians are
specifically said to be barbarian-speaking, and the allied contingents
are said to have spoken multiple languages, requiring orders to be
translated by their individual commanders.[72] The Trojans and
Achaeans in the
IliadIliad share the same religion, same culture and the
enemy heroes speak to each other in the same language, though this
could be dramatic effect.

Nine years of war
Philoctetes
PhiloctetesPhiloctetes was Heracles' friend, and because he lit Heracles's
funeral pyre when no one else would, he received Heracles' bow and
arrows.[73] He sailed with seven ships full of men to the Trojan War,
where he was planning on fighting for the Achaeans. They stopped
either at
Chryse IslandChryse Island for supplies,[74] or in Tenedos, along with
the rest of the fleet.[75]
PhiloctetesPhiloctetes was then bitten by a snake. The
wound festered and had a foul smell; on Odysseus's advice, the
AtreidaeAtreidae ordered
PhiloctetesPhiloctetes to stay on Lemnos.[39]
Medon took control
of Philoctetes's men. While landing on Tenedos,
AchillesAchilles killed king
Tenes, son of Apollo, despite a warning by his mother that if he did
so he would be killed himself by Apollo.[76] From Tenedos, Agamemnon
sent an embassy to Priam, composed of Menelaus, Odysseus, and
Palamedes, asking for Helen's return. The embassy was refused.[77]
PhiloctetesPhiloctetes stayed on
LemnosLemnos for ten years, which was a deserted
island according to Sophocles' tragedy Philoctetes, but according to
earlier tradition was populated by Minyans.[78]
Arrival
CalchasCalchas had prophesied that the first Achaean to walk on land after
stepping off a ship would be the first to die.[79] Thus even the
leading
GreeksGreeks hesitated to land. Finally, Protesilaus, leader of the
Phylaceans, landed first.[80]
OdysseusOdysseus had tricked him, in throwing
his own shield down to land on, so that while he was first to leap off
his ship, he was not the first to land on Trojan soil.
HectorHector killed
Protesilaus in single combat, though the Trojans conceded the beach.
In the second wave of attacks,
AchillesAchilles killed Cycnus, son of
Poseidon. The Trojans then fled to the safety of the walls of their
city.[81] The walls served as sturdy fortifications for defense
against the Greeks; the build of the walls was so impressive that
legend held that they had been built by
PoseidonPoseidon and
ApolloApollo during a
year of forced service to Trojan King Laomedon.[82]
Protesilaus had
killed many Trojans but was killed by
HectorHector in most versions of the
story,[83] though others list Aeneas, Achates, or Ephorbus as his
slayer.[84] The Achaeans buried him as a god on the Thracian
peninsula, across the Troad.[85] After Protesilaus' death, his
brother, Podarces, took command of his troops.

Achilles' surrender of
BriseisBriseis to Agamemnon, from the House of the
Tragic Poet in Pompeii, fresco, 1st century AD, now in the Naples
National Archaeological Museum

The Achaeans besieged
TroyTroy for nine years. This part of the war is the
least developed among surviving sources, which prefer to talk about
events in the last year of the war. After the initial landing the army
was gathered in its entirety again only in the tenth year. Thucydides
deduces that this was due to lack of money. They raided the Trojan
allies and spent time farming the Thracian peninsula.[86]
TroyTroy was
never completely besieged, thus it maintained communications with the
interior of Asia Minor. Reinforcements continued to come until the
very end. The Achaeans controlled only the entrance to the
Dardanelles, and
TroyTroy and her allies controlled the shortest point at
Abydos and
SestusSestus and communicated with allies in Europe.[87]
AchillesAchilles and Ajax were the most active of the Achaeans, leading
separate armies to raid lands of Trojan allies. According to Homer,
AchillesAchilles conquered 11 cities and 12 islands.[88] According to
Apollodorus, he raided the land of
AeneasAeneas in the
TroadTroad region and
stole his cattle.[89] He also captured Lyrnassus, Pedasus, and many of
the neighbouring cities, and killed Troilus, son of Priam, who was
still a youth; it was said that if he reached 20 years of age, Troy
would not fall. According to Apollodorus,

He also took Lesbos and Phocaea, then Colophon, and Smyrna, and
Clazomenae, and Cyme; and afterwards Aegialus and Tenos, the so-called
Hundred Cities; then, in order, Adramytium and Side; then Endium, and
Linaeum, and Colone. He took also Hypoplacian Thebes and Lyrnessus,
and further Antandrus, and many other cities.[90]

Kakrides comments that the list is wrong in that it extends too far
into the south.[91] Other sources talk of
AchillesAchilles taking Pedasus,
Monenia,[92] Mythemna (in Lesbos), and Peisidice.[93]
Among the loot from these cities was Briseis, from Lyrnessus, who was
awarded to him, and Chryseis, from Hypoplacian Thebes, who was awarded
to Agamemnon.[39]
AchillesAchilles captured Lycaon, son of Priam,[94] while he
was cutting branches in his father's orchards.
PatroclusPatroclus sold him as a
slave in Lemnos,[39] where he was bought by Eetion of
ImbrosImbros and
brought back to Troy. Only 12 days later
AchillesAchilles slew him, after the
death of Patroclus.[95]

Ajax and
AchillesAchilles playing a board game (Black-figure Attic lekythos,
c. 500 BC)

Ajax and a game of petteia
Ajax son of
TelamonTelamon laid waste the Thracian peninsula of which
Polymestor, a son-in-law of Priam, was king.
PolymestorPolymestor surrendered
Polydorus, one of Priam's children, of whom he had custody. He then
attacked the town of the Phrygian king Teleutas, killed him in single
combat and carried off his daughter Tecmessa.[96] Ajax also hunted the
Trojan flocks, both on
Mount IdaMount Ida and in the countryside.
Numerous paintings on pottery have suggested a tale not mentioned in
the literary traditions. At some point in the war
AchillesAchilles and Ajax
were playing a board game (petteia).[97][98] They were absorbed in the
game and oblivious to the surrounding battle.[99] The Trojans attacked
and reached the heroes, who were only saved by an intervention of
Athena.[100]
Death of Palamedes
OdysseusOdysseus was sent to
ThraceThrace to return with grain, but came back
empty-handed. When scorned by Palamedes,
OdysseusOdysseus challenged him to do
better. Palamedes set out and returned with a shipload of grain.[101]
OdysseusOdysseus had never forgiven Palamedes for threatening the life of his
son. In revenge,
OdysseusOdysseus conceived a plot[102] where an incriminating
letter was forged, from
PriamPriam to Palamedes,[103] and gold was planted
in Palamedes' quarters. The letter and gold were "discovered", and
AgamemnonAgamemnon had Palamedes stoned to death for treason.
However, Pausanias, quoting the Cypria, says that
OdysseusOdysseus and
DiomedesDiomedes drowned Palamedes, while he was fishing, and
Dictys says that
OdysseusOdysseus and
DiomedesDiomedes lured Palamedes into a well, which they said
contained gold, then stoned him to death.[104]
Palamedes' father Nauplius sailed to the
TroadTroad and asked for justice,
but was refused. In revenge, Nauplius traveled among the Achaean
kingdoms and told the wives of the kings that they were bringing
Trojan concubines to dethrone them. Many of the Greek wives were
persuaded to betray their husbands, most significantly Agamemnon's
wife, Clytemnestra, who was seduced by Aegisthus, son of
Thyestes.[105]
Mutiny
Near the end of the ninth year since the landing, the Achaean army,
tired from the fighting and from the lack of supplies, mutinied
against their leaders and demanded to return to their homes. According
to the Cypria,
AchillesAchilles forced the army to stay.[39] According to
Apollodorus,
AgamemnonAgamemnon brought the Wine Growers, daughters of Anius,
son of Apollo, who had the gift of producing by touch wine, wheat, and
oil from the earth, in order to relieve the supply problem of the
army.[106]
Iliad

Main article: Iliad
Chryses, a priest of
ApolloApollo and father of Chryseis, came to Agamemnon
to ask for the return of his daughter.
AgamemnonAgamemnon refused, and insulted
Chryses, who prayed to
ApolloApollo to avenge his ill-treatment. Enraged,
ApolloApollo afflicted the Achaean army with plague.
AgamemnonAgamemnon was forced to
return
ChryseisChryseis to end the plague, and took Achilles' concubine
BriseisBriseis as his own. Enraged at the dishonour
AgamemnonAgamemnon had inflicted
upon him,
AchillesAchilles decided he would no longer fight. He asked his
mother, Thetis, to intercede with Zeus, who agreed to give the Trojans
success in the absence of Achilles, the best warrior of the Achaeans.
After the withdrawal of Achilles, the Achaeans were initially
successful. Both armies gathered in full for the first time since the
landing.
MenelausMenelaus and Paris fought a duel, which ended when Aphrodite
snatched the beaten Paris from the field. With the truce broken, the
armies began fighting again.
DiomedesDiomedes won great renown amongst the
Achaeans, killing the Trojan hero
PandarosPandaros and nearly killing Aeneas,
who was only saved by his mother, Aphrodite. With the assistance of
Athena,
DiomedesDiomedes then wounded the gods
AphroditeAphrodite and Ares. During the
next days, however, the Trojans drove the Achaeans back to their camp
and were stopped at the Achaean wall by Poseidon. The next day,
though, with Zeus' help, the Trojans broke into the Achaean camp and
were on the verge of setting fire to the Achaean ships. An earlier
appeal to
AchillesAchilles to return was rejected, but after
HectorHector burned
Protesilaus' ship, he allowed his close friend[107] and relative
PatroclusPatroclus to go into battle wearing Achilles' armour and lead his
army.
PatroclusPatroclus drove the Trojans all the way back to the walls of
Troy, and was only prevented from storming the city by the
intervention of Apollo.
PatroclusPatroclus was then killed by Hector, who took
Achilles' armour from the body of Patroclus.

Triumphant
AchillesAchilles dragging Hector's body around Troy, from a
panoramic fresco of the Achilleion

Achilles, maddened with grief, swore to kill
HectorHector in revenge. He was
reconciled with
AgamemnonAgamemnon and received
BriseisBriseis back, untouched by
Agamemnon. He received a new set of arms, forged by the god
Hephaestus, and returned to the battlefield. He slaughtered many
Trojans, and nearly killed Aeneas, who was saved by Poseidon. Achilles
fought with the river god Scamander, and a battle of the gods
followed. The Trojan army returned to the city, except for Hector, who
remained outside the walls because he was tricked by Athena. Achilles
killed Hector, and afterwards he dragged Hector's body from his
chariot and refused to return the body to the Trojans for burial. The
Achaeans then conducted funeral games for Patroclus. Afterwards, Priam
came to Achilles' tent, guided by Hermes, and asked
AchillesAchilles to return
Hector's body. The armies made a temporary truce to allow the burial
of the dead. The
IliadIliad ends with the funeral of Hector.

Shortly after the burial of Hector, Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons,
arrived with her warriors.[108] Penthesilea, daughter of Otrere and
Ares, had accidentally killed her sister Hippolyte. She was purified
from this action by Priam,[109] and in exchange she fought for him and
killed many, including Machaon[110] (according to Pausanias, Machaon
was killed by Eurypylus),[111] and according to one version, Achilles
himself, who was resurrected at the request of Thetis.[112] In another
version, Penthesilia was killed by Achilles[113] who fell in love with
her beauty after her death. Thersites, a simple soldier and the
ugliest Achaean, taunted
AchillesAchilles over his love[110] and gouged out
Penthesilea's eyes.[114]
AchillesAchilles slew Thersites, and after a dispute
sailed to Lesbos, where he was purified for his murder by Odysseus
after sacrificing to Apollo, Artemis, and Leto.[113]
While they were away, Memnon of Ethiopia, son of
TithonusTithonus and
Eos,[115] came with his host to help his stepbrother Priam.[116] He
did not come directly from Ethiopia, but either from
SusaSusa in Persia,
conquering all the peoples in between,[117] or from the Caucasus,
leading an army of Ethiopians and Indians.[118] Like Achilles, he wore
armour made by Hephaestus.[119] In the ensuing battle, Memnon killed
Antilochus, who took one of Memnon's blows to save his father
Nestor.[120]
AchillesAchilles and Memnon then fought.
ZeusZeus weighed the fate of
the two heroes; the weight containing that of Memnon sank,[121] and he
was slain by Achilles.[113][122]
AchillesAchilles chased the Trojans to their
city, which he entered. The gods, seeing that he had killed too many
of their children, decided that it was his time to die. He was killed
after Paris shot a poisoned arrow that was guided by
Apollo.[113][115][123] In another version he was killed by a knife to
the back (or heel) by Paris, while marrying Polyxena, daughter of
Priam, in the temple of Thymbraean Apollo,[124] the site where he had
earlier killed Troilus. Both versions conspicuously deny the killer
any sort of valour, saying
AchillesAchilles remained undefeated on the
battlefield. His bones were mingled with those of Patroclus, and
funeral games were held.[125] Like Ajax, he is represented as living
after his death in the island of Leuke, at the mouth of the Danube
River,[126] where he is married to Helen.[127]
Judgment of Arms

The suicide of Ajax (from a calyx-krater, 400–350 BC, Vulci)

A great battle raged around the dead Achilles. Ajax held back the
Trojans, while
OdysseusOdysseus carried the body away.[128] When Achilles'
armour was offered to the smartest warrior, the two that had saved his
body came forward as competitors. Agamemnon, unwilling to undertake
the invidious duty of deciding between the two competitors, referred
the dispute to the decision of the Trojan prisoners, inquiring of them
which of the two heroes had done most harm to the Trojans.[129]
Alternatively, the Trojans and Pallas
AthenaAthena were the judges[130][131]
in that, following Nestor's advice, spies were sent to the walls to
overhear what was said. A girl said that Ajax was braver:

For Aias took up and carried out of the strife the hero, Peleus'
son: this great
OdysseusOdysseus cared not to do.
To this another replied by Athena's contrivance:
Why, what is this you say? A thing against reason and untrue!
Even a woman could carry a load once a man had put it on her
shoulder; but she could not fight. For she would fail with fear
if she should fight. (Scholiast on Aristophanes, Knights 1056 and
Aristophanes ib)

According to Pindar, the decision was made by secret ballot among the
Achaeans.[132] In all story versions, the arms were awarded to
Odysseus. Driven mad with grief, Ajax desired to kill his comrades,
but
AthenaAthena caused him to mistake the cattle and their herdsmen for the
Achaean warriors.[133] In his frenzy he scourged two rams, believing
them to be
AgamemnonAgamemnon and Menelaus.[134] In the morning, he came to his
senses and killed himself by jumping on the sword that had been given
to him by Hector, so that it pierced his armpit, his only vulnerable
part.[135] According to an older tradition, he was killed by the
Trojans who, seeing he was invulnerable, attacked him with clay until
he was covered by it and could no longer move, thus dying of
starvation.
Prophecies

A mosaic depicting Odysseus, from the villa of La Olmeda, Pedrosa de
la Vega, Spain, late 4th–5th centuries AD

After the tenth year, it was prophesied[136] that
TroyTroy could not fall
without Heracles' bow, which was with
PhiloctetesPhiloctetes in Lemnos. Odysseus
and Diomedes[137] retrieved Philoctetes, whose wound had healed.[138]
PhiloctetesPhiloctetes then shot and killed Paris.
According to Apollodorus, Paris' brothers
Helenus and
Deiphobus vied
over the hand of Helen.
Deiphobus prevailed, and
Helenus abandoned
TroyTroy for Mt. Ida.
CalchasCalchas said that
Helenus knew the prophecies
concerning the fall of Troy, so
OdysseusOdysseus waylaid Helenus.[131][139]
Under coercion,
Helenus told the Achaeans that they would win if they
retrieved Pelops' bones, persuaded Achilles' son
NeoptolemusNeoptolemus to fight
for them, and stole the Trojan Palladium.[140]
The
GreeksGreeks retrieved Pelop's bones,[141] and sent
OdysseusOdysseus to retrieve
Neoptolemus, who was hiding from the war in King Lycomedes's court in
Scyros.
OdysseusOdysseus gave him his father's arms.[131][142] Eurypylus, son
of Telephus, leading, according to Homer, a large force of
Kêteioi,[143] or
HittitesHittites or Mysians according to Apollodorus,[144]
arrived to aid the Trojans. He killed Machaon[111] and Peneleos,[145]
but was slain by Neoptolemus.
Disguised as a beggar,
OdysseusOdysseus went to spy inside Troy, but was
recognized by Helen. Homesick,[146] Helen plotted with Odysseus.
Later, with Helen's help,
OdysseusOdysseus and
DiomedesDiomedes stole the
Palladium.[131][147]

The earliest known depiction of the Trojan Horse, from the Mykonos
vase c. 670 BC

Trojan Horse
Main article: Trojan Horse
The end of the war came with one final plan.
OdysseusOdysseus devised a new
ruse—a giant hollow wooden horse, an animal that was sacred to the
Trojans. It was built by
EpeiusEpeius and guided by Athena,[148] from the
wood of a cornel tree grove sacred to Apollo,[149] with the
inscription:

The hollow horse was filled with soldiers[151] led by Odysseus. The
rest of the army burned the camp and sailed for Tenedos.[152]
When the Trojans discovered that the
GreeksGreeks were gone, believing the
war was over, they "joyfully dragged the horse inside the city",[153]
while they debated what to do with it. Some thought they ought to hurl
it down from the rocks, others thought they should burn it, while
others said they ought to dedicate it to Athena.[154][155]
Both
CassandraCassandra and
LaocoönLaocoön warned against keeping the horse.[156]
While
CassandraCassandra had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, she was
also cursed by
ApolloApollo never to be believed. Serpents then came out of
the sea and devoured either
LaocoönLaocoön and one of his two sons,[154]
LaocoönLaocoön and both his sons,[157] or only his sons,[158] a portent
which so alarmed the followers of
AeneasAeneas that they withdrew to
Ida.[154] The Trojans decided to keep the horse and turned to a night
of mad revelry and celebration.[131] Sinon, an Achaean spy, signaled
the fleet stationed at
TenedosTenedos when "it was midnight and the clear
moon was rising"[159] and the soldiers from inside the horse emerged
and killed the guards.[160]
Sack of Troy

The Achaeans entered the city and killed the sleeping population. A
great massacre followed which continued into the day.

Blood ran in torrents, drenched was all the earth,
As Trojans and their alien helpers died.
Here were men lying quelled by bitter death
All up and down the city in their blood.[161]

The Trojans, fuelled with desperation, fought back fiercely, despite
being disorganized and leaderless. With the fighting at its height,
some donned fallen enemies' attire and launched surprise
counterattacks in the chaotic street fighting. Other defenders hurled
down roof tiles and anything else heavy down on the rampaging
attackers. The outlook was grim though, and eventually the remaining
defenders were destroyed along with the whole city.
NeoptolemusNeoptolemus killed Priam, who had taken refuge at the altar of
ZeusZeus of
the Courtyard.[154][162]
MenelausMenelaus killed Deiphobus, Helen's husband
after Paris' death, and also intended to kill Helen, but, overcome by
her beauty, threw down his sword[163] and took her to the
ships.[154][164]
Ajax the LesserAjax the Lesser raped
CassandraCassandra on Athena's altar while she was
clinging to her statue. Because of Ajax's impiety, the Acheaens, urged
by Odysseus, wanted to stone him to death, but he fled to Athena's
altar, and was spared.[154][165]
Antenor, who had given hospitality to
MenelausMenelaus and
OdysseusOdysseus when they
asked for the return of Helen, and who had advocated so, was spared,
along with his family.[166]
AeneasAeneas took his father on his back and
fled, and, according to Apollodorus, was allowed to go because of his
piety.[162]
The
GreeksGreeks then burned the city and divided the spoils.
CassandraCassandra was
awarded to Agamemnon.
NeoptolemusNeoptolemus got Andromache, wife of Hector, and
OdysseusOdysseus was given Hecuba, Priam's wife.[167]
The Achaeans[168] threw Hector's infant son
AstyanaxAstyanax down from the
walls of Troy,[169] either out of cruelty and hate[170] or to end the
royal line, and the possibility of a son's revenge.[171] They (by
usual tradition Neoptolemus) also sacrificed the Trojan princess
PolyxenaPolyxena on the grave of
AchillesAchilles as demanded by his ghost, either as
part of his spoil or because she had betrayed him.[172]
Aethra, Theseus' mother, and one of Helen's handmaids,[173] was
rescued by her grandsons, Demophon and Acamas.[154][174]
Returns
Main article: Returns from Troy
The gods were very angry over the destruction of their temples and
other sacrilegious acts by the Achaeans, and decided that most would
not return home. A storm fell on the returning fleet off
TenosTenos island.
Additionally, Nauplius, in revenge for the murder of his son
Palamedes, set up false lights in Cape Caphereus (also known today as
Cavo D'Oro, in Euboea) and many were shipwrecked.[175]

Ajax the Lesser, who had endured more than the others the wrath of the
Gods, never returned. His ship was wrecked by a storm sent by Athena,
who borrowed one of Zeus' thunderbolts and tore it to pieces. The crew
managed to land in a rock, but
PoseidonPoseidon struck it, and Ajax fell in
the sea and drowned. He was buried by
ThetisThetis in Myconos[178] or
Delos.[179]
Teucer, son of
TelamonTelamon and half-brother of Ajax, stood trial by his
father for his half-brother's death. He was disowned by his father and
wasn't allowed back on Salamis Island. He was at sea near Phreattys in
Peiraeus.[180] He was acquitted of responsibility but found guilty of
negligence because he did not return his dead body or his arms. He
left with his army (who took their wives) and founded Salamis in
Cyprus.[181] The Athenians later created a political myth that his son
left his kingdom to Theseus' sons (and not to Megara).
Neoptolemus, following the advice of Helenus, who accompanied him when
he traveled over land, was always accompanied by Andromache. He met
OdysseusOdysseus and they buried Achilles' teacher Phoenix on the land of the
Ciconians. They then conquered the land of the
MolossiansMolossians (Epirus) and
NeoptolemusNeoptolemus had a child by Andromache, Molossus, to whom he later gave
the throne.[182] Thus the kings of
EpirusEpirus claimed their lineage from
Achilles, and so did Alexander the Great, whose mother was of that
royal house.
Alexander the GreatAlexander the Great and the kings of
MacedonMacedon also claimed
to be descended from Heracles.
Helenus founded a city in Molossia and
inhabited it, and
NeoptolemusNeoptolemus gave him his mother Deidamia as wife.
After
PeleusPeleus died he succeeded Phtia's throne.[183] He had a feud with
OrestesOrestes (son of Agamemnon) over Menelaus' daughter Hermione, and was
killed in Delphi, where he was buried.[184] In Roman myths, the
kingdom of Phtia was taken over by Helenus, who married Andromache.
They offered hospitality to other Trojan refugees, including Aeneas,
who paid a visit there during his wanderings.
DiomedesDiomedes was first thrown by a storm on the coast of Lycia, where he
was to be sacrificed to
AresAres by king Lycus, but Callirrhoe, the king's
daughter, took pity upon him, and assisted him in escaping.[185] He
then accidentally landed in Attica, in Phaleron. The Athenians,
unaware that they were allies, attacked them. Many were killed, and
Demophon took the Palladium.[186] He finally landed in Argos, where he
found his wife Aegialeia committing adultery. In disgust, he left for
Aetolia.[187] According to later traditions, he had some adventures
and founded
CanusiumCanusium and Argyrippa in Southern Italy.[188]
Philoctetes, due to a sedition, was driven from his city and emigrated
to Italy, where he founded the cities of Petilia, Old Crimissa, and
Chone, between Croton and Thurii.[189] After making war on the
Leucanians he founded there a sanctuary of
ApolloApollo the Wanderer, to
whom also he dedicated his bow.[190]
According to Homer,
IdomeneusIdomeneus reached his house safe and sound.[191]
Another tradition later formed. After the war, Idomeneus's ship hit a
horrible storm.
IdomeneusIdomeneus promised
PoseidonPoseidon that he would sacrifice
the first living thing he saw when he returned home if
PoseidonPoseidon would
save his ship and crew. The first living thing he saw was his son,
whom
IdomeneusIdomeneus duly sacrificed. The gods were angry at his murder of
his own son and they sent a plague to Crete. His people sent him into
exile to
CalabriaCalabria in Italy,[192] and then to Colophon, in Asia Minor,
where he died.[193] Among the lesser Achaeans very few reached their
homes.

House of Atreus

The murder of
AgamemnonAgamemnon (1879 illustration from Alfred Church's
Stories from the Greek Tragedians)

According to the Odyssey, Menelaus's fleet was blown by storms to
CreteCrete and Egypt, where they were unable to sail away due to calm
winds.[194] Only five of his ships survived.[176]
MenelausMenelaus had to
catch Proteus, a shape-shifting sea god, to find out what sacrifices
to which gods he would have to make to guarantee safe passage.[195]
According to some stories the Helen who was taken by Paris was a fake,
and the real Helen was in Egypt, where she was reunited with Menelaus.
ProteusProteus also told
MenelausMenelaus that he was destined for
ElysiumElysium (Heaven)
after his death.
MenelausMenelaus returned to
SpartaSparta with Helen eight years
after he had left Troy.[196]
AgamemnonAgamemnon returned home with
CassandraCassandra to Argos. His wife Clytemnestra
(Helen's sister) was having an affair with Aegisthus, son of Thyestes,
Agamemnon's cousin who had conquered
ArgosArgos before
AgamemnonAgamemnon himself
retook it. Possibly out of vengeance for the death of Iphigenia,
ClytemnestraClytemnestra plotted with her lover to kill Agamemnon. Cassandra
foresaw this murder, and warned Agamemnon, but he disregarded her. He
was killed, either at a feast or in his bath,[197] according to
different versions.
CassandraCassandra was also killed.[198] Agamemnon's son
Orestes, who had been away, returned and conspired with his sister
ElectraElectra to avenge their father.[199] He killed
ClytemnestraClytemnestra and
AegisthusAegisthus and succeeded to his father's throne.[200][201]
Odyssey
Main article: Odyssey
Odysseus' ten-year journey home to
IthacaIthaca was told in Homer's Odyssey.
OdysseusOdysseus and his men were blown far off course to lands unknown to the
Achaeans; there
OdysseusOdysseus had many adventures, including the famous
encounter with the
CyclopsCyclops Polyphemus, and an audience with the seer
TeiresiasTeiresias in Hades. On the island of Thrinacia, Odysseus' men ate the
cattle sacred to the sun-god Helios. For this sacrilege Odysseus'
ships were destroyed, and all his men perished.
OdysseusOdysseus had not eaten
the cattle, and was allowed to live; he washed ashore on the island of
Ogygia, and lived there with the nymph Calypso. After seven years, the
gods decided to send
OdysseusOdysseus home; on a small raft, he sailed to
Scheria, the home of the Phaeacians, who gave him passage to Ithaca.

Once in his home land,
OdysseusOdysseus traveled disguised as an old beggar.
He was recognised by his dog, Argos, who died in his lap. He then
discovered that his wife, Penelope, had been faithful to him during
the 20 years he was absent, despite the countless suitors that were
eating his food and spending his property. With the help of his son
Telemachus, Athena, and Eumaeus, the swineherd, he killed all of them
except Medon, who had been polite to Penelope, and Phemius, a local
singer who had only been forced to help the suitors against Penelope.
PenelopePenelope tested
OdysseusOdysseus and made sure it was him, and he forgave her.
The next day the suitors' relatives tried to take revenge on him but
they were stopped by Athena.
Telegony
Main article: Telegony
The
Telegony picks up where the
OdysseyOdyssey leaves off, beginning with the
burial of the dead suitors, and continues until the death of
Odysseus.[202] Some years after Odysseus' return, Telegonus, the son
of
OdysseusOdysseus and Circe, came to
IthacaIthaca and plundered the island.
Odysseus, attempting to fight off the attack, was killed by his
unrecognized son. After
Telegonus realized he had killed his father,
he brought the body to his mother Circe, along with
TelemachusTelemachus and
Penelope.
CirceCirce made them immortal; then
Telegonus married Penelope
and
TelemachusTelemachus married Circe.
Aeneid

Main article: Aeneid
The journey of the Trojan survivor
AeneasAeneas and his resettling of Trojan
refugees in
ItalyItaly are the subject of the Latin epic poem The
AeneidAeneid by
Virgil. Writing during the time of Augustus,
VirgilVirgil has his hero give
a first-person account of the fall of
TroyTroy in the second of the Aeneid
's twelve books; the Trojan Horse, which does not appear in "The
Iliad", became legendary from Virgil's account.
AeneasAeneas leads a group of survivors away from the city, among them his
son
AscaniusAscanius (also known as Iulus), his trumpeter Misenus, father
Anchises, the healer Iapyx, his faithful sidekick Achates, and Mimas
as a guide. His wife Creusa is killed during the sack of the city.
AeneasAeneas also carries the
LaresLares and
PenatesPenates of Troy, which the
historical Romans claimed to preserve as guarantees of Rome's own
security.
The Trojan survivors escape with a number of ships, seeking to
establish a new homeland elsewhere. They land in several nearby
countries that prove inhospitable, and are finally told by an oracle
that they must return to the land of their forebears. They first try
to establish themselves in Crete, where
DardanusDardanus had once settled, but
find it ravaged by the same plague that had driven
IdomeneusIdomeneus away.
They find the colony led by
Helenus and Andromache, but decline to
remain. After seven years they arrive in Carthage, where
AeneasAeneas has an
affair with Queen Dido. (Since according to tradition
CarthageCarthage was
founded in 814 BC, the arrival of Trojan refugees a few hundred years
earlier exposes chronological difficulties within the mythic
tradition.) Eventually the gods order
AeneasAeneas to continue onward, and
he and his people arrive at the mouth of the
TiberTiber River in Italy.
Dido commits suicide, and Aeneas's betrayal of her was regarded as an
element in the long enmity between Rome and
CarthageCarthage that expressed
itself in the
Punic WarsPunic Wars and led to Roman hegemony.
At Cumae, the
SibylSibyl leads
AeneasAeneas on an archetypal descent to the
underworld, where the shade of his dead father serves as a guide; this
book of the
AeneidAeneid directly influenced Dante, who has
VirgilVirgil act as
his narrator's guide.
AeneasAeneas is given a vision of the future majesty
of Rome, which it was his duty to found, and returns to the world of
the living. He negotiates a settlement with the local king, Latinus,
and was wed to his daughter, Lavinia. This triggered a war with other
local tribes, which culminated in the founding of the settlement of
Alba Longa, ruled by
AeneasAeneas and Lavinia's son Silvius. Roman myth
attempted to reconcile two different founding myths: three hundred
years later, in the more famous tradition,
RomulusRomulus founded Rome after
murdering his brother Remus. The Trojan origins of Rome became
particularly important in the propaganda of Julius Caesar, whose
family claimed descent from Venus through Aeneas's son Iulus (hence
the Latin gens name Iulius), and during the reign of Augustus; see for
instance the
Tabulae IliacaeTabulae Iliacae and the "
TroyTroy Game" presented frequently
by the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
Dates of the Trojan War

Since this war was considered among the ancient
GreeksGreeks as either the
last event of the mythical age or the first event of the historical
age, several dates are given for the fall of Troy. They usually derive
from genealogies of kings.
Ephorus gives 1135 BC,[203]
Sosibius 1172
BC,[204]
EratosthenesEratosthenes 1184 BC/1183 BC,[205] Timaeus 1193 BC,[206] the
Parian marble 1209 BC/1208 BC,[207]
DicaearchusDicaearchus 1212 BC,[208]
HerodotusHerodotus around 1250 BC,[209] Eretes 1291 BC,[210] while Douris 1334
BC.[211] As for the exact day
Ephorus gives 23/24 Thargelion (May 6 or
7), Hellanicus 12 Thargelion (May 26)[212] while others give the 23rd
of Sciroforion (July 7) or the 23rd of Ponamos (October 7).
The glorious and rich city
HomerHomer describes was believed to be
TroyTroy VI
by many twentieth century authors, destroyed in 1275 BC, probably by
an earthquake. Its follower
TroyTroy VIIa, destroyed by fire at some point
during the 1180s BC, was long considered a poorer city, but since the
excavation campaign of 1988 it has risen to the most likely candidate.

Historical basis
See also: Historicity of the Iliad
The historicity of the
Trojan WarTrojan War is still subject to debate. Most
classical
GreeksGreeks thought that the war was a historical event, but many
believed that the Homeric poems had exaggerated the events to suit the
demands of poetry. For instance, the historian Thucydides, who is
known for being critical, considers it a true event but doubts that
1,186 ships were sent to Troy.
EuripidesEuripides started changing Greek myths
at will, including those of the Trojan War. Near year 100, Dio
Chrysostom argued that while the war was historical, it ended with the
Trojans winning, and the
GreeksGreeks attempted to hide that fact.[213]
Around 1870 it was generally agreed in Western Europe that the Trojan
War had never happened and
TroyTroy never existed.[214] Then Heinrich
Schliemann popularized his excavations at Hisarlik, which he and
others believed to be Troy, and of the Mycenaean cities of Greece.
Today many scholars agree that the
Trojan WarTrojan War is based on a historical
core of a Greek expedition against the city of Troy, but few would
argue that the Homeric poems faithfully represent the actual events of
the war.
In November 2001, geologist John C. Kraft and classicist John V. Luce
presented the results of investigations into the geology of the region
that had started in 1977.[215][216][217] The geologists compared the
present geology with the landscapes and coastal features described in
the
IliadIliad and other classical sources, notably Strabo's Geographia.
Their conclusion was that there is regularly a consistency between the
location of
TroyTroy as identified by Schliemann (and other locations such
as the Greek camp), the geological evidence, and descriptions of the
topography and accounts of the battle in the Iliad.
In the twentieth century scholars have attempted to draw conclusions
based on Hittite and Egyptian texts that date to the time of the
Trojan War. While they give a general description of the political
situation in the region at the time, their information on whether this
particular conflict took place is limited. Andrew Dalby notes that
while the
Trojan WarTrojan War most likely did take place in some form and is
therefore grounded in history, its true nature is and will be
unknown.[218] The
Tawagalawa letter mentions a kingdom of Ahhiyawa
(Achaea, or Greece) that lies beyond the sea (that would be the
Aegean) and controls Milliwanda, which is identified with Miletus.
Also mentioned in this and other letters is the
Assuwa confederation
made of 22 cities and countries which included the city of Wilusa
(Ilios or Ilium). The
Milawata letter implies this city lies on the
north of the
Assuwa confederation, beyond the
SehaSeha river. While the
identification of
Wilusa with Ilium (that is, Troy) is always
controversial, in the 1990s it gained majority acceptance. In the
Alaksandu treaty (c. 1280 BC) the king of the city is named Alaksandu,
and Paris's name in the
IliadIliad (among other works) is Alexander. The
Tawagalawa letter (dated c. 1250 BC) which is addressed to the king of
Ahhiyawa actually says: "Now as we have come to an agreement on Wilusa
over which we went to war ..."[full citation needed]
Formerly under the Hittites, the
Assuwa confederation defected after
the battle of Kadesh between
EgyptEgypt and the
HittitesHittites (c. 1274 BC). In
1230 BC Hittite king
Tudhaliya IVTudhaliya IV (c. 1240–1210 BC) campaigned
against this federation. Under
Arnuwanda III (c. 1210–1205 BC) the
HittitesHittites were forced to abandon the lands they controlled in the coast
of the Aegean. It is possible that the
Trojan WarTrojan War was a conflict
between the king of Ahhiyawa and the
Assuwa confederation. This view
has been supported in that the entire war includes the landing in
MysiaMysia (and Telephus' wounding), Achilles's campaigns in the North
Aegean and Telamonian Ajax's campaigns in
ThraceThrace and Phrygia. Most of
these regions were part of Assuwa.[70][219] That most Achaean heroes
did not return to their homes and founded colonies elsewhere was
interpreted by
ThucydidesThucydides as being due to their long absence.[220]
Nowadays the interpretation followed by most scholars is that the
Achaean leaders driven out of their lands by the turmoil at the end of
the Mycenaean era preferred to claim descent from exiles of the Trojan
War.[221]
In popular culture
Main article:
Trojan WarTrojan War in popular culture
The inspiration provided by these events produced many literary works,
far more than can be listed here. The siege of
TroyTroy provided
inspiration for many works of art, most famously Homer's Iliad, set in
the last year of the siege. Some of the others include Troades by
Euripides,
TroilusTroilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer,
TroilusTroilus and
Cressida by William Shakespeare,
IphigeniaIphigenia and
PolyxenaPolyxena by Samuel
Coster, Palamedes by
Joost van den VondelJoost van den Vondel and
Les TroyensLes Troyens by Hector
Berlioz.
Films based on the
Trojan WarTrojan War include Helen of
TroyTroy (1956), The Trojan
Horse (1961) and
TroyTroy (2004). The war has also been featured in many
books, television series, and other creative works.
References

Media related to
Trojan WarTrojan War at Wikimedia Commons
Was There a Trojan War? Maybe so. From Archeology, a publication of
the Archeological Institute of America. May/June 2004
The
Trojan WarTrojan War at Greek Mythology Link
The Legend of the Trojan War
Mortal Women of the Trojan War
The Historicity of the
Trojan WarTrojan War The location of
TroyTroy and possible
connections with the city of Teuthrania.
The Greek Age of Bronze "Trojan war"
The Trojan War: A Prologue to Homer's Iliad
BBC audio podcast
Melvyn BraggMelvyn Bragg interviews
Edith Hall and others on
historicity, history and archaeology of the war. [Play]
Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (about 2500 images related to
the Trojan War)

First Messenian War
Lelantine War
Second Messenian War
First Sacred War
Sicilian Wars

Classical

Greco-Persian Wars
Aeginetan War
Wars of the Delian League
First Peloponnesian War
Second Sacred War
Samian War
Second Peloponnesian War
Phyle Campaign
Corinthian War
Boeotian War
Wars of the Theban hegemony

Theban–Spartan War

Social War (357–355 BC)
Third Sacred War
Foreign War
Rise of Macedon
Wars of Alexander the Great

Hellenistic

Lamian War
Wars of the Diadochi
Antigonid–Nabataean confrontations
Seleucid–Mauryan war
Pyrrhic War
Syrian Wars
Pyrrhus' invasion of the Peloponnese
Chremonidean War
Seleucid–Parthian wars
Cleomenean War
Lyttian War
Social War (220–217 BC)
First Macedonian War
Cretan War
Second Macedonian War
Roman–Seleucid War
Aetolian War
War against Nabis
Galatian War
Third Macedonian War
Maccabean Revolt
Seleucid Dynastic Wars
Fourth Macedonian War
Achaean War
Mithridatic Wars (First, Second, Third)
Final War of the Roman Republic